Clayton Dube has headed the USC U.S.-China Institute since it was established by USC President C.L. Nikias in 2006 to focus on the multidimensional U.S.-China relationship. USCI enhances understanding of complex and evolving U.S.-China ties through cutting-edge social science research, innovative graduate and undergraduate training, extensive and influential public events, and professional development efforts.

Dube came to USC after serving as the assistant director of UCLA’s Asia Institute. During his tenure there, he managed the U.S. Department of Education designated East Asian Studies National Resource Center. He also headed the Asian studies teacher training program and oversaw a variety of instructional, research, and outreach initiatives. Among the projects he directed there were two student-driven web publications, AsiaMedia and Asia Pacific Arts, each of which had more than one million readers annually. At USC he created another successful publication, US-China Today (uschina.usc.edu), and relaunched Asia Pacific Arts (asiapacificarts.usc.edu).

Dube has produced two documentary films and consulted on several others. He’s currently working with a USCI team to complete the six-part Assignment: China documentary series on American media coverage of China since the 1940s. He writes USCI’s popular Talking Points newsletter. He is frequently called upon by American and Chinese broadcast and print media to comment on current affairs.

Dube’s research focuses on how economic and political change in China since 1900 affected the lives of people in small towns, on how Americans and Chinese see each other, and how governments work to influence those views. He’s written teaching guides on Chinese history and served as associate editor for Modern China, an academic quarterly published by Sage Publications, from 1998 to 2002. Dube is currently the faculty director for a USC program to train Guizhou provincial officials.